Technology trends, insights and news

October 12, 2007

TechNet Innovation Summit Wrap

TechNet held its Innovation Summit yesterday at UC Berkeley to a crowd of a few hundred. Man about the globe Charlie Rose moderated panels that included TechNet co-founders John Doerr and John Chambers, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz, former Clinton economic adviser Laura Tyson and more.

With the Iraq War, terrorism and health care dominating the race for the presidency, the trio said they fear politicians are paying too little attention to bedrock economic issues that hinge on U.S. competitiveness and innovation.

Increasing productivity growth by just a few percentage points, Chambers said, would create new jobs and boost middle-class incomes without fueling inflation.

Panelists also pointed out it will take innovation to end our reliance on foreign-produced and greenhouse-gas emitting energy.

Innovation starts with education, Tyson said. Too many students are dropping out of school, and too few are studying math and science.

Chambers called the primary education system "broken," citing statistics that show other countries outpacing the U.S. in engineering graduates by a 10-to-1 margin.

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